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Logitek has introduced the mixIT-6, a six-fader touchscreen-controlled tabletop AoIP audio console/control surface. The mixIT, like its bigger brother, the 12-fader mix-IT, works in conjunction with Logitek’s JetStream Mini and JetStream Plus routers as well as the new Jet67 AES67 engine. It is also compatible with Livewire and Ravenna. A Dante option is planned.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

As with Logitek’s Helix consoles, mixIT-6 provides metering, source selection and scene selects via a 7-inch touchscreens above the faders. Onboard router widgets enable easy selection of transmission, recording or codec feeds. Controls are also provided for talkback to studio/remote, monitor (control room, studio and headphone) and the console’s built-in cue speaker. A program meter simplifies operation by providing indicators for “too high/too low,” enabling at-a-glance setting of optimum levels.

Logitek President Tag Borland said, “mixIT-6 and mixIT-12 are perfect solutions for small broadcast operations or smaller studios in a large broadcast complex, with no hidden surprises in the equipment costs.”

He added, “Many budget-priced consoles require the purchase of external microphone processors, dynamics processing or even networking options. mixIT includes all of the electronic equipment needed to get on-air, offering an intuitive interface for operators while providing easy networking with other studios.”

Info: https://logitekaudio.com/

 

The post Logitek Picks Six appeared first on Radio World.

Lawo’s AoIP Stream Monitor is monitoring software for AES67 networks. It runs on Windows 10 PCs and is VMWare-compatible for multi-instance deployment.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

It can display data for up to 16 streams. Information can include LUFS readouts, definable loudness alerts, stream health data track of jitter and packet loss over time, user-definable per-stream over- or under-level alerts along with offering tools such as a silence sensor and an SDP interrogator.

The software adheres to the ST2022-7 standard and can monitor two dual-redundant NICs simultaneously.

Info: www.lawo.com

 

The post Lawo Monitors the Stream appeared first on Radio World.

The author is co-founder of Ferncast and Binaurics Audio as well as founder of Mayah Communications.

MUNICH — Shareholders of Munich-based Institut für Rundfunktechnik GmbH recently announced they would stop supporting the research facility.

Detlef Wiese

Between 1987 and 1992 I was lucky enough to be part of the IRT, developing and exploring audio coding. At the time IRT was already recognized as a prestigious R&D organization. Wherever I presented a paper, being associated with the IRT had great value.

My time as a scientist there was a highlight of my career. The knowledge I gathered in so many fields of broadcasting was overwhelming. Those five years were great! The IRT focuses on the three business fields: AV and production systems, media services and platforms, and network technologies.

It was already very sad to discover the termination of regional public television broadcaster ZDF in 2019. And now with IRT backers (German public broadcasting organization ARD, Austrian ORF and Swiss SRG), deciding to withdraw as shareholders in the organization, the research center will be forced to close by the end of the year.

It’s about the fate of all the 100 employees who do not know about their future. It’s also about the culmination of a prominent, almost 75-year-old research institution. Today Europe needs to encourage innovation in so many fields to stay on track with global developments and remain competitive.

IRT’s areas of research

Therefore, I find it incomprehensible and unjustifiable that Germany is giving up another research platform. Freedom of expression in the broadcasting sector and the corresponding technology that derives from it has a huge value and is certainly worth keeping. In addition, when comparing the overall budget of public broadcasters ARD, ZDF, ORF and SRG, one sees that the amount dedicated to the IRT makes up less than 0.5% of that budget.

What’s even more perplexing is that in October, Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder announced that the government would invest €2 billion in a research and innovation program for that region.

It’s important to emphasize that in Europe there is a strong political push to increase research in the short- and medium-term. Closing a important research institute that has been operating since 1956 is clearly not in line with this policy.

Detlef Wiese is one of the original inventors of MPEG Layer II and is CEO of Ferncast. He is also musician, entrepreneur and local politician. Contact him via email at author@detlefwiese.de.

The post IRT to Close by End of 2020 appeared first on Radio World.

The National Association of Broadcasters announced the election results for the even-numbered districts of its radio and television boards. The terms are effective in June and will continue through 2022.

The newly elected radio board members are:

• Entercom Communications Corp. Executive Vice President/General Counsel Andrew Sutor, representing District 24 (southern California, Guam and Hawaii).
• Guaranty Media President Flynn Foster, representing District 8 (Louisiana and Mississippi)
• Koser Radio Group President and CEO Tom Koser, representing  District 14 (Iowa and Wisconsin)
• Bryan Broadcasting Vice President Ben Downs, representing District 18 (southern Texas)

Reelected for another two-year term are: 

• Townsquare Media CEO Bill Wilson (repping District 2’s New York and New Jersey)
• iHeartMedia Chief Operations Officer Hartley Adkins (District 6, North and South Carolina)
• Zimmer Radio of Mid-Missouri President/Owner John Zimmer (District 12, Missouri and Kansas)
• Always Mountain Time LLC President/CEO Pete Benedetti (District 16, Colorado and Nebraska)
• Legend Communications LLC Managing Partner Larry Patrick (District 20 , Montana, Idaho and Wyoming)
• Mel Wheeler Inc. President Leonard Wheeler (District 4, Delaware, D.C., Maryland and Virginia) and 
• Beasley Media Group Chief Content Officer Justin Chase (District 22, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah)

Last May, Cumulus Media President/CEO Mary Berner and Perry Publishing and Broadcasting Co. Vice President/General Manager Kevin Perry were appointed to the NAB Radio Board, joining Bustos Media Holdings President Amador Bustos, Entercom Communications President/Chairman/CEO David Field and Alpha Media Regional President Bill McElveen.

The post 2020 NAB Radio Board Members Elected appeared first on Radio World.

Marty Sacks

The author is executive vice president of sales, support, & marketing for the Telos Alliance.

Ever since 2003, when Telos Alliance introduced audio over IP for broadcast, the industry has been transitioning away from analog and primitive digital systems.

For over 15 years, broadcasters have been adopting AoIP infrastructure, both in radio and TV, with system after system being swapped out for truly flexible AoIP equipment. The pace of adoption has been extraordinary, but we expect that it will accelerate even more as a direct response to what broadcasters learn through their response to coronavirus.

At no other time in the history of broadcasting have entire facilities been forced to curtail their operations or even close altogether. This is our new reality as of Spring 2020. What forward-looking broadcast engineers have known for years about AoIP’s advantages, “faster, cheaper and better,” now takes a backseat to urgent requirements for facilities to remotely broadcast, including locations that have never been intended for this use (think spare bedroom or closet).

What forward-looking broadcast engineers have known for years about AoIP’s advantages… now takes a backseat to urgent requirements for facilities to remotely broadcast.

Enter virtualization on a scale we’ve never seen before. Luckily, manufacturers were already moving in this direction. Products that were previously only found in rack-mounted or tabletop hardware are available in other form factors, or as hybrids of software and servers, or even as virtual machines. Broadcasters that were skeptical are now virtualizing studios, and their trepidation at doing so is a nonissue. There is no time for “what-ifs,” and we are impressed by radio engineers who have been able to pivot nimbly to virtual operations. Just as other areas of life will be changed by the pandemic — education, healthcare, technology — so too will radio.

The lure of a virtualized station can’t be denied. Right now, the most obvious benefit is staying on the air even when studios are shut down due to shelter-in-place edicts.

“Every engineer out there was probably waiting for this day, the big emergency, when we can’t broadcast at the studio, but we thought it would be an earthquake or fire or something,” says Paul Montoya from Wyoming Public Radio.

BEYOND CRISIS RESPONSE

But the benefits of virtualization go way beyond crisis response. Virtualized systems are easier and less expensive to update than physical equipment. Imagine having four facilities: When a piece of hardware reaches end-of-life, all four sites have to be updated on site, one by one, studio by studio.

AoIP equipment certainly makes this process much easier than the old TDM days. For one, it doesn’t have to be done all at once, but can be implemented gradually, over time. It also dramatically minimizes the amount of wiring needed and is overall faster, cheaper, and better than analog or primitive digital. Virtualization takes all this a step further because software can be updated remotely and/or all at once in a central data center, with software updates pushed out simultaneously to every facility. No physical equipment, no site visits.

Virtualization also has the potential to be more reliable than physical equipment. AoIP is already light years ahead of old analog and early digital systems in terms of reliability. In an AoIP system, there is no single point of failure, making total system failure a thing of the past. Virtualization can kick reliability up another notch by running multiple instances of software concurrently in physically diverse locations instantly available as needed. Redundancy is a highly developed concept in the IT world.

Just like AoIP dramatically reduced the amount of TDM cages and racks needed for a facility, virtualization reduces or eliminates equipment altogether, potentially making those vast equipment rooms — including abundant levels of power and cooling — a thing of the past. And with them, the cost of that associated real estate overhead.

Getty/Yuichiro Chino

By removing much of the physical equipment from the equation, on-site radio broadcasts via mobile radio stations also become that much easier, less expensive, with less equipment, shipping and configuration time needed to get up and broadcasting live.

Scaling broadcast operational requirements up or down and only paying for what you need is a big benefit, especially right now. Cash is king at a time when facilities need to save pennies to stay on the air as long as possible, while not paying for the entire studio to be online just for two or three systems to be on air.

From a quality perspective, we all know that audio loses something in the translation from format to format. Virtualization allows the audio packet to remain in its original format with no loss of integrity. Like in an AoIP system, the signal remains pure throughout the air chain resulting in better audio quality.

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of a virtualized facility is the ability to interact with products from outside of broadcast, like those from the world of computing — a tablet or Windows computer, for example. By using software, you aren’t tied into proprietary hardware and have more options when it comes to designing your system. Another big plus of software is that because functionality is not hard-coded to a specific button on a console, for example, it’s highly customizable, allowing more flexibility as to functionality.

A HYBRID APPROACH

Some of our customers only recently made the move from analog to AoIP, and there are many facilities out there that still haven’t. What we’re seeing now, more than completely virtualized studio operation, is a sort of hybrid setup that uses both physical and virtual gear.

For example, your console might be more than a traditional surface — like an Axia Quasar console with traditional inputs and outputs combined with Axia IP-Tablet Virtual Radio software that puts your most used functions on a touchscreen. Andrew Zarian, CEO & Founder of Guys From Queens Network, uses an Axia Radius console and TeamViewer remote desktop tool to remotely control the surface from any web browser.

Many Axia console operators are using Axia SoftSurface to remotely produce their content during quarantine. SoftSurface was a very early cut of this kind of hybrid back when no one ran their consoles on a touchscreen or computer. It allowed broadcasters to run on a virtual surface yet still have the full functionality of a console. As I write this, SoftSurface is controlling consoles all over the world as broadcasters are forced to leave studios and work from remote locations.

Our IP-Tablet product includes a virtual mixing software module for our xNode that allows users to access the internal mixer inside; change sources and routes; and control the levels of each with virtual faders. When you combine this software with an xNode you get a fully customizable mini mixer. Just like a smartphone, you can add other IP-Tablet Virtual Radio “apps” to create even more virtual radio studio functionality, including those that control other products like the Omnia.9, Telos VX, and more. This software-based approach dramatically enhances the functionality and value of your console. Customized facilities are more available to all broadcasters–not just the ones in larger markets.

It’s remarkable the level of ingenuity that broadcast engineers are tapping into in order to help studios stay on the air right now. We look forward to when all of this is over, when broadcasters have a choice again as to how and where they produce content, and indeed, more choice of virtualized offerings as manufacturers create and refine products to catch up to the current need during pandemic.

The importance of this moment in broadcast history will not be lost on manufacturers. In the meantime, thank you to all the radio engineers out there for keeping us all together through the power of radio, even when we can’t be!

The post Virtualization: Beyond Crisis Response appeared first on Radio World.

Smart devices such as smartphones are increasingly being used in broadcasting duties. Angry Audio’s Bluetooth Audio Gadget aims to make that interfacing easy.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

The BAG can be used on air or in production studios used to play recorded interviews, streams or music into a mixer. It offers bidirectional audio for Skype, FaceTime and phone calls. Sound quality is high courtesy thanks to AAC and aptX codec algorithms.

Audio input comes via a Bluetooth receiver and wired XLR and 3.5 mm-1/8-inch wired inputs. There are balanced XLR stereo outputs along with AES67 digital outputs.

The whole system comes in a heavy-duty steel box.

Info: https://angryaudio.com/

 

The post Bluetooth Audio Gadget Gets Smart appeared first on Radio World.

Cool new native digital devices are all the rage but how to introduce and maintain your legacy analog equipment in an IP broadcast network?

Neutrik comes to the rescue with the NA2-IO-DPRO interface.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

Features include two inputs switchable between mic, line and AES/EBU signals plus two outputs switchable between analog line and AES/EBU. Two Dante ports provide for either redundancy or device daisy-chaining.

All connectors are lockable and, together with the removable rubber protection, offer a reliable solution for tough stage conditions. With optional mounting brackets or a rack panel, the box can be mounted below tables, in floor boxes, racks or on a truss.

Operates via power-over-Ethernet.

Info: www.neutrik.com

 

The post Neutrik Breaks Out the NA2-IO-DPRO appeared first on Radio World.

Fig. 1: David H. Layer, NAB vice president for advanced engineering, addresses the audience at the Digital Radio Summit 2020.

U.S. radio technologists look forward each April to hearing about new developments from David Layer, the vice president, advanced engineering of the National Association of Broadcasters.

But with the NAB Show cancelled, Radio World asked our correspondent Davide Moro to report on Layer’s presentation in February at the Digital Radio Summit 2020 in Geneva, an annual meeting at European Broadcasting Union headquarters.

That presentation — about HD Radio developments, all-digital AM, hybrid radio and voice platforms — doubles as somewhat of a state-of-the-industry technical report for U.S. radio.

Among other things, attendees heard about potential new costs for U.S. broadcasters that could result from wider deployment of new “hybrid” receivers that combine over-the-air and online connectivity. NAB technologists are involved in research that may help resolve the problem.

They also heard him describe an NAB effort to create a standardized broadcaster database so that stations can interact more consistently with the many new voice-controlled audio platforms.

DIGITAL DATA Fig. 2: Spectrum distribution in the FM IBOC asymmetric sidebands broadcast mode.
CREDIT: David Layer/NAB

Speaking first about the status of HD Radio, Layer described continuing uptake in Mexico and Canada. In the United States he noted the proliferating number of receivers, though on the station side, “frankly there’s still work to be done.”

The majority of radio stations in the U.S. are not yet broadcasting in digital. However, FM stations doing so now cover the large majority of the population with their signals, so overall coverage is very good, but many smaller-market broadcasters in particular haven’t converted yet. “We at NAB understand that and are trying to work with Xperi and equipment manufacturers to develop less expensive ways for broadcasters to deploy HD Radio.” Xperi is the owner of HD Radio technology.

On the receiver side, deployment continues to grow at a steady pace, to an overall figure of 70 million receivers sold as of the end of 2019. Layer said roughly 25% of 275 million vehicles registered in the U.S. are capable of receiving digital broadcasts now. Noticeably, penetration is greater in the major markets like New York (37.5%), Miami (35.9%) and Los Angeles (34.3%). 

Fig. 3: HD Radio mode “MP1” spectrum distribution.

Layer said how those figures are potentially important for AM broadcasters.  Awareness of a proposed all-digital option for the AM band is growing, and it is inherently supported in all existing HD Radios. He noted however that when a given station decides to move to all-digital AM, listeners won’t be able to receive those signals on analog-only receivers. 

He said solid, well-established digital radio receiver penetration is key if broadcasters are to consider offering an all-digital AM service.

In November, as RW has reported, the FCC announced plans to give AM stations the flexibility to voluntarily adopt all-digital broadcasting, and it has been taking comments from industry about it.

ASYMMETRY

Layer also updated attendees on the proposed use of the FM IBOC asymmetric sidebands mode. Under this mode, which currently requires an experimental authorization, FM HD Radio broadcasters in the United States can increase their digital power on just one side of the signal (Fig. 2). 

Fig. 4: HD Radio mode “MP3” spectrum distribution is the most commonly used by U.S. broadcasters.

 When first-adjacent channels are closely spaced on one side of the signal but not on the other, this waveform helps broadcasters achieve better digital coverage since the entirety of the digital broadcast is present in both sidebands. NAB, Xperi and National Public Radio recently filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the FCC asking for a routine authorization for this, but no decision has been forthcoming yet.

Like most digital standards, HD Radio also allows for a number of different operating modes. NAB recently investigated the mode called MP11, which until recently was not supported by commercially available transmission and reception equipment. 

Compared to the standard hybrid HD Radio modes MP1 and MP3 (Figs. 3 and 4), which are currently used by most broadcasters, MP11 adds additional digital sidebands (Fig. 5) and offers broadcasters an additional 25 kilobits per second of capacity. 

“Working with Xperi and equipment manufacturer Nautel, PILOT, an innovation initiative of the NAB, tested this mode using the PILOT radio test bed, confirming that it works great and manufacturers are now implementing that,” Layer said. MP11 mode also has been demonstrated to have minimal impact on analog FM reception and audio quality, he said.

Fig. 5: HD Radio mode “MP11” spectrum distribution, featuring additional digital sidebands.

Layer reported that Xperi is also looking for new operation modes for digital FM broadcast, especially targeting a long-term potential future where FM could be all-digital in the United States. The HD Radio standard dates to the early 2000s. Since then, hardware technology and coding methods have improved and it’s now possible to do much more with the same signal and spectrum, he said.

Xperi and NAB PILOT are investigating new modes that provide much higher throughput, up to 320 kbps (Fig. 6), to support higher levels of service as well as new applications.

AM CHALLENGES

In-car listening accounts for more than 50% of overall radio listening in the United States, so Layer also is paying attention to new car and dashboard designs.

“As the great U.S. philosopher Yogi Berra used to say, ‘You can learn a lot by just watching.’ So I visited the November 2019 LA Auto Show, sitting in  over 50 cars and operating the radios. I was looking for certain things like the radio button, whether there was a tuner knob, HD Radio capabilities and so on.” 

Fig. 6: Xperi and PILOT are investigating new HD Radio modes which provide enhanced throughput, up to 320 kilobits per second.

Layer compared the experience with his prior findings from the Detroit Auto Show of January 2017 and provided a brief comparison (Fig. 7). In a couple of years, HD Radio availability in the vehicles on display at these auto shows rose from 78% to 82% while the presence of a physical “radio” button dropped down from 39% to 26%. 

In addition, the presence of a physical tuning knob dropped from 54% to 38% while cursor knob presence rose from 31% to 36%. Layer says this expanded use of cursor knobs is evidence of how the dashboard is becoming more like a computer platform. 

He also found that Apple CarPlay was more prevalent than Android Auto (92% vs. 70%). 

Three out of nine all-electric vehicles he saw did not feature AM radio at all, presumably in part because of issues with electric motors creating interference to the AM signals. 

Fig. 7: Layer compared the dashboard features he encountered at new car shows 2-1/2 years apart.

At the most recent CES, NXP demoed a solution to solve this issue; but an obstacle for car manufacturers is the cost of these advanced tuners. The challenge for U.S. broadcasters, considering the huge number of AM stations on air, is to ensure there will continue to be consumer demand for AM services based on their content; Layer said this will be the best reason for automotive manufacturers to keep AM radios in electric cars. 

HYBRID RADIO

Meanwhile, hybrid radio is poised to be of growing importance. Here the term refers to emerging platforms that combine over-the-air broadcast reception with online connectivity that extends a station’s coverage beyond its OTA footprint (with the use of audio streaming), offers the possibility of enhanced metadata and listener interactivity, and provides the ability for analytic feedback to broadcasters about listening.

Layer noted the hybrid radio platform 360L recently announced by satellite company SiriusXM as a remarkable example of hybrid radio capabilities, user experience and listener engagement (see a video tutorial at http://tinyurl.com/rw-hybrid). 

But the growing popularity of hybrid radio comes with a major drawback for local U.S. broadcasters. Once a driver tunes to a given station, a hybrid radio receiver may silently look for and stay connected to the broadcaster’s streaming audio signal to support time alignment of the over-the-air and streaming versions of the signal.  This is done so as to allow seamless switching to the streaming feed in case the broadcast coverage weakens. 

In this scenario, the streaming signal is in use even when a receiver is playing the RF feed and no one is listening to the stream. As a consequence, performance rights costs significantly rise. 

“I’ve heard a broadcaster say, ‘This just completely breaks the business model,” Layer noted. “This is a big problem; hybrid radio offers so much promise but there’s a peril for U.S. broadcasters because of the streaming fees.”

BROADCAST-ONLY ZONE

NAB is seeking to define a way for broadcasters to try to control such costs. The idea is that the broadcaster creates a description of a “strong signal area” in which streaming is not allowed; the receiver gets information about the broadcast-only area via the internet-delivered portion of the hybrid radio signal, exchanging data with the onboard GPS system. 

Thus the receiver can detect the position of the vehicle with respect to the broadcast-only area and, when within that zone, the receiver tunes to broadcast signals only, with no streaming. Beyond this broadcast-only area is a “gray zone” where the receiver selects either source according to RF reception metrics. Outside these two areas, the receiver is allowed to force streaming. 

This process would give the broadcaster an opportunity to better manage streaming costs. 

Fig. 8: A possible implementation of the “broadcast-only zone,” which drives the receiver in tuning to RF-only signals. The orange line visible over the red is created using only 36 points.

Layer believes it may be a challenge to convince receiver manufacturers to implement this solution because it adds cost and complexity. “But it’s very important and it’s something that we’re going to continue to work on,” he said. “Maybe we can come up with a simpler way to achieve the same goal.”

The idea of conditioning a receiver’s action on its geographical position is not virgin territory; it is one of the pillars on which emergency alerting in mobile phones is based. It’s common practice to create a contour and dictate that an alert will only be received by smartphones in a certain area. So the basics are proven, but it has not been applied to radio broadcasting in this fashion. NAB is exploring this with the RadioDNS technical group, Xperi and receiver manufacturers. 

Layer believes a basic broadcast-only area can be adequately shaped by using a contour with well under 100 points (an example using 36 points was shown during the EBU presentation), thus making communication to receivers a relatively “light” task. 

POSITIVE THINKING

Finally, Layer discussed voice platforms, which are becoming a major channel through which consumers receive audio services. When listeners attempt to  access broadcast stations using, for example, smart speakers, he noted that they have to face some issues. 

Instead of asking for the name of their favorite station, many Americans are accustomed to asking for the frequency on which a station is broadcasting. So, when a listener asks for 97.1, they might end up hearing the wrong 97.1 which disadvantages the local broadcaster and annoys the listener. (Read about an effort to resolve this problem in Australia at https://tinyurl.com/rw-smart-3.)

For the broadcaster, one issue is that voice platforms often connect the listener to a station only via a particular aggregation platform. The audio feed is not coming directly from the broadcaster, meaning it is out of the loop in controlling that experience.

“We are talking to Google and to Amazon,” Layer said, “and we are working at a solution where broadcasters can be more involved in selecting where a stream originates from, maybe from broadcasters’ own platforms.”

Layer feels positive about this process and hopes that broadcasters in various countries can work toward a common approach because the web companies are accustomed to targeting global audiences through global solutions. 

With that in mind, NAB PILOT is working on creating a standardized broadcaster database of how voice platforms find and ingest data, with the goal that each station would have a say in what information is shared with the voice platforms, such as station name, frequency, branding, location and market. The database would allow stations to prioritize stream location for voice platforms.

“If we can collaborate on these activities and develop a database that broadcasters have access to and control, I think that would really improve the experience from both the broadcasters’ and listeners’ perspectives,” Layer concluded. 

Comment on this or any story to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post NAB Radio Technologists Look Ahead  appeared first on Radio World.

As the quality of smartphone cameras has improved over the years, many people are now using them to broadcast from their homes or facilities, especially during a time when our mobility is limited. The Video Call Center, a provider of video remotes and production automation for media companies, is among the most experienced in advancing remote production technologies using smartphones.

The company’s patented technology allows seamless connectivity for broadcasting over cellular connections with zero latency. No apps are involved; all that’s needed is a smartphone camera and cellular connection.

Larry Thaler, CEO for The Video Call Center and contributor to TV Technology, said the company was seeing steady growth well before the pandemic.

“We have watched our new, location-agnostic, smartphone- and IP-based production processes steadily gain traction over the past couple of years with sales up nearly 100%,” he said. “Even before the pandemic, our clients found that we offered creative flexibility, while making more effective use of their available budgets. Although we are concerned about the pandemic and our hearts go out to those affected, the VCC’s customer base has grown by an additional 30% and production hours are four times higher than this time last year.”

TV Technology recently spoke with VCC Producer Jonni-Lynn Galietti about her work in helping prepare clients for their live appearances on TV.

VCC call producer Jonni-Lynn Galietti manages production for a national news program from her home. (Photo: Video Call Center)

TVT: What’s the first thing you do to help prepare for broadcasts?

Jonni-Lynn Galietti: The first thing we do when we connect with the smartphone is we analyze the connection. Sometimes Wi-Fi is great, but sometimes it’s not, so we would have to switch to data — so there’s really only two options.

It’s really easy to analyze the connection — within the first 10–20 seconds of our conversation, we can see if it’s good or bad. After that, it’s all about propping up the device. We ask them to hold it full screen horizontal and then we really analyze the room. If the first thing I see is light behind the caller, I know that there’s some beautiful natural light coming into the room. But the last thing I want to do is to put it behind the caller.

So we utilize anything we can to have that caller move to use that light, so that the light is in front of them. Window sills are great, as they can prop the device so it’s at 90 degrees. But the real challenge is getting it eye level, so we’ll ask them to use ordinary household items to prop these devices to get them at eye level with the caller. We don’t want any tilts or look up somebody’s nose and we don’t want any ceiling in the shot, so there’s a lot of filters that we really have to go through to get that perfect ideal shot.

If I have my overhead light on in the room I’m using, it’s not really going to provide a balanced light on my face. What matters most is that the person you are speaking with, that their face is lit up. It’s not the overhead, the shoulders or behind them, you want to see their face clearly.

TVT: How far away should the smartphone be placed?

JG: That’s really at the client’s request. I’ve had clients connect with callers at campsites where they want the full body shot, tent and fire in the picture, but the majority of our clients want to match up the caller to the host that is interviewing them.

It’s usually the eyes, and the top part of their chest, maybe a little more headroom, but it’s really based on the client’s request.

TVT: Do clients ever want to use the camera vertically?

JG: We’ve had requests to do it vertically before but we really like to provide horizontal connections because we want the caller to see as much return as possible. I think it’s just as important for the full screen to be taken up in the control room so they can crop it accordingly.

TVT: How long does set-up take?

JG: This window varies. A lot of our clients put very strict time constrictions on us — we’ve had less than seven minutes to connect with the caller to put them on live TV. We’ve had callers in Israel with absolutely no connection and we needed to provide a clear HD signal and we spent hours connecting them to see what the best results were.

As a rule of thumb, we typically ask for 15 minutes just to get it perfect. We know everyone’s time is valuable but we feel confident that we can get a really good signal within 15 minutes.

TVT: Beyond the tech support, how would you describe your role?

JG: I am their cheerleader! There’s a lot of people who get nervous about how they look, but I’m only here to make sure your connection is good and your shot looks good. I’m also here to amp you up.

There’s different challenges every time. Everyone is unique.

 

The post Broadcasting Via Smartphone: Some Tips & Techniques appeared first on Radio World.

2wcom says its MoIN software solution provides all functionalities that traditional hardware AoIP codecs offer. The company also points out that it adds benefits such as scalability, usage-oriented pricing models, optimized rack space or flexibility in application.

The system features Icecast to DVB transport stream transcoding so web streams are available on DVB transport stream for distribution in cable networks or via satellite. In addition, its software can feed a streaming encoder or transcode an audio signal to adaptive bitrate protocols like HLS for further distribution via CDN.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

As a studio-to-WAN bridge, the server allows for the transformation of AoIP protocols like AES67, Dante, WheatNet, Ravenna or Livewire+ to a format that is suitable for wide area networks.

SMPTE 2022 conform error protection or Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) ensure transmission robustness, even with imperfect network conditions.

On-demand transcoders in means of number and time enable users to flexibly handle alternative audio streams like audio description or additional audio streams of a video contribution, such as for example for social media platforms and radio.

MoIN software is also available as hardware if required.

Info: www.2wcom.com

 

The post 2wcom MoIN Links Production and Distribution appeared first on Radio World.

Robert Ferguson

The author is a support engineer for Wheatstone. He says that nearly every customer support call has been COVID-19-related since the middle of March.

How many of you have bought a virtual mixer, set it up initially, and forgot about it — until recently?

You’re not alone. I’ve talked to quite a few broadcasters who are discovering that they’re far more prepared for a pandemic like COVID-19 than they thought.

Many are grabbing mics from the studio, and Tielines or other codec units off the remote rack and sending them home with talent so they can remotely voicetrack or broadcast their shows.

Others are using SIP software codecs such as LinPhone or OnSIP that they’ve installed on tablets, PCs or phones. Still others are using a combination of both. One group, for example, is setting up WheatNet-IP VoIP-AoIP multichannel appliances at the studio headend with any combination of SIP software and hardware decoders at the home studio end. As a result, it was able to deploy multiple work at home studios at once.

Codec choices range from G.722 to Opus, any of which add some lag that can be a factor for live shows (the biggest problem being that hosts talk over each other). But at 256 kbps, Opus can provide a decent amount of dynamic range and it’s fairly robust — certainly not as robust as linear audio, but it’s cheaper to carry that encoded audio across the internet or across a WAN than straight linear audio.

If you have a USB mic or small mixer type application with a USB audio output, you can put that to good use as well. I’ve talked to several who are broadcasting with these or their mobile phones temporarily. The frequency response is limited, especially on those smart phones, and the quality isn’t as good as a professional mic with processing, but for doing live news, it’s a quick way to broadcast remotely in near real time.

MIXING REMOTELY

When it comes to mixing feeds, in almost all cases I recommend that this be done from the station studio where you have all the tools of the trade on hand.

Since you already have all that professional gear at your studio facility, why not remote into that facility and gain access to it? While there are ways to remote into an analog studio (more on that in a minute), it’s easier with an AoIP networked studio.

If you have an AoIP console surface, you can probably use remote control software to control it. Many of the broadcasters I talk to are setting up a gateway machine somewhere in the building to protect the main network, and then remoting in through a VPN to control the console. OpenVPN is a popular open-source VPN option for creating reliable tunnels into the studio. To get around internet speed issues and dropouts that can be a problem in more rural areas, WHIZ CE Kevin Buente in Zanesville, Ohio, configured OpenVPN to bond across multiple WAN connections into the TV/radio combo’s WheatNet-IP networked studio.

Remote control software for consoles and AoIP systems varies, from basic GUIs to virtual mixers like our Remote LXE client software that mirrors a physical LXE console surface. Talent is able to access and control the physical console in the facility from a Remote LXE client on a laptop or desktop at home, usually through a VPN into a gateway computer at the station studio.

We are seeing a huge increase in interest in our Remote LXE and other Glass remote client software for this purpose and for remote engineering access as well. Radio Operations Manager Tom Barclay with Georgia Public Broadcasting recently ordered a Glass E remote client for a LX-24 console mainly for remote engineering access, but he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of using it for remote mixing by producers that are currently on-premise. The pubcaster keeps a board operator on-premise in its talk studio for daily shows like its Political Rewind show, which is being hosted remotely by a host in a home studio using a codec with typically two or three guest call-ins on telephone.

Overall, the trend seems to be software apps as an alternative to physical home studio gear. Apps like our remote mixing app ReMIX can be installed on a gateway PC at the station or used over a VPN connection to the WheatNet-IP network, which can be used to control utility mixers in the WheatNet-IP Blades. This is useful for broadcasters who have Blades for I/O, but do not have a surface capable of remote control. (The utility mixer output(s) can be routed to the air-chain. Assignments to the utility mixer can be made using WheatNet IP Navigator or salvos fired from logic inputs for a predefined set of inputs to the utility mixer being controlled by ReMIX). Any source on the WheatNet-IP network can be assigned to utility mixer inputs; mics, codecs, and automation playouts are the most common. With the two available program busses on the utility mixer, a quick mix-minus could also be set up to send to a codec or phone hybrid.

CHALLENGES OF BACK FEEDS TO STATIONS

Next to remote access, setting up confidence monitoring and mix-minus or bus-minus feeds for home studios make up the majority of our support calls since the pandemic started. Most of these are a simple matter of setting bus-minus assigns (all of our IP surfaces have bus-minus sends from the fader and these provide an automatic mix-minus of program content minus the source, so in most cases it’s a simple fix of pairing faders to the codec.

It gets harder for some of the smaller plants that have a limited number of AoIP I/O units feeding a small console. The tricky part is how to route several home studio feeds and their respective bus-minus presets along with assigned codecs using shared hardware I/Os and faders. This can often be done in the software realm, using AoIP features like WheatNet-IP’s Associated Connections that let you build a set of rules to automate some of that routing in smaller plants that are short on faders or outputs.

FOR YOU ANALOG GUYS

Analog consoles can also be remotely controlled with a little ingenuity and using the GPI/O in most any program playout or automation system. GPI/Os can be programmed to fire closure contacts that remote control the console. I recommend that you set up a gateway computer for logging into the network from the outside, and then set up a remote utility such as TeamViewer to keep your playout system secure.

Another option is to add an IP I/O unit to the analog console and then routing control and audio through that for remote access of the console.

There are as many ways to “social distance” the broadcast studio as there are ways to build a studio. The building blocks are pretty much the same as you’d find in-house — codecs, client software, surface control — and it’s just a matter of putting it together with a little bit of ingenuity to get what you need.

Radio World welcomes suggestions for other articles about how radio companies and technology suppliers are solving problems during this current health and business climate. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Radio From Home: You May Be More Prepared Than You Realize appeared first on Radio World.

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The author is membership program director of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. NFCB commentaries are featured regularly at www.radioworld.com.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a tremendous impact on local media. You need only turn on commercial radio or television to catch rebroadcasts, Skype interviews and replacement programming. At many community radio stations, the situation is no different.

With worries about infection, plenty of community stations have opted to send volunteers home. In several cases, volunteers are encouraged produce their shows remotely. The catch? Stations are largely letting volunteers figure out this stuff on their own.

[Read: Community Broadcaster: Salute to Stations Fighting On]

So, if you are a community radio producer or DJ, how exactly do you create your weekly radio show without a studio and minimal technology?

These suggestions are by no means complete for everyone, but here is an overview for any community radio volunteer.

It cannot be overstated that where you record is literally more important what you record and what you record it with. As the National Federation of Community Broadcasters notes in its free guidance for stations, the two primary issues volunteers must be aware of are the areas they will record and then the microphones they use.

Your first task is selecting where you will record your voiceovers. Rooms with high ceilings, open floor plans, hard surfaces and rooms likely to pick up ambient/white noise should not be used to record a program. This means living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and garages are out. Veteran journalist Ron Gonyea presents extensive insights in Current on what to look out for as well. Vents, street noise and pillows are among the items on your checklist.

Now, test out your sound deadening tactics. If you are not satisfied, vocal booth boxes and microphone sound shields are available online for under $50 and will vastly improve sound. For an even more extensive dive into acoustics, NPR Training provides diagrams that help you think about your space.

Next, for the thing everyone focuses on first: your microphone.

Do not use your mobile phone’s or laptop’s built-in microphones to record a full program. You’ll likely not get the sound you aspire to have. Quality microphones are available for under $50 from music equipment stores and online. These include the Rode, Audio-Technica, Samson and Shure lines of USB microphones. YouTube features many products tests. If you can’t test a microphone out, skim those tests to choose the right device for your vocal delivery.

If you’re worried about a microphone working with your sound card and input, or that your desktop or laptop is too old to work with a USB microphone, there are many lines of handheld recorders available. With these, you can record your spots directly there, then move the recorded files for production. Affordable brands used for media production include Tascam and Zoom (not to be mistaken for the video platform).

And finally, there are a range of software audio editing packages that volunteers can use, including Audacity, which is free, and Adobe Audition, which is part of Adobe Creative Cloud. Again, YouTube is a go-to. You’ll find beginner to advanced techniques for your software of choice.

At-home production may ramp up the switch to digital, especially for music DJs dependent on records, compact discs or cassettes. Additionally, the remote production road is sure to be bumpy for those new to it. However, during COVID-19, such program creation is required. And it could be just the kind of learning experience you didn’t know you needed.

 

The post Community Broadcaster: Tips for Better Home Recordings appeared first on Radio World.

Sine Control Technology, maker of PowerClamp Surge Protective Devices, has introduced the new Series 200 PowerClamp models. It describes the AC power line surge suppressor as ideal for broadcast transmitter sites or any other installations that require clean and reliable AC power.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

The new Series 200 PowerClamp units are rated at 200,000 amps-per-phase of surge suppression capacity, and will be available for single-/split-phase and three-phase WYE electrical service in all standard voltages. The Series 200 units will suppress short-term power line surges to within a few volts of the sine wave, thus protecting transmitters from AC spikes that cause serious damage and unreliable operation. This new design also features internal LEDs to indicate if a fuse needs replacement, and remote status monitoring that can be interfaced to any transmitter remote control system.

Solid-state transmitters with switching power supplies are especially vulnerable to power line spikes and surges. These AC power disturbances often cause irreparable damage to power supply components. The new Series 200 PowerClamp surge suppressors will greatly reduce the chances of damage and keep the transmitter reliably on the air.

Series 200 PowerClamp units are housed in a NEMA-rated enclosure with all critical components hermetically sealed to prevent degradation. They are installed in parallel with the transmitter electrical service. Load-matching is not required, and power to the transmitter is not interrupted even if a PowerClamp fuse opens.

Info: https://henryeng.com/powerclamp

 

The post New Sine Control PowerClamp Series Available appeared first on Radio World.